Broken Wings
by JaneDoeAndCo
Summary: A woman is found on the side of the highway in Arcadia Bay and it's down to Chloe to identify them. In this tale of love, loss and heartbreak Chloe will go on an emotional roller-coaster of a journey she never would have imagined, trying to fight for the women she loves.


**This story starts just before Life is Strange where Chloe meets Nathan in the bathroom at Blackwell. This is an AU and just a little bit of fun. Please be aware, this includes details from Life is Strange: Before the Storm, so may be spoilers for those who have not played it. **

_**Disclaimer ****\- I do not own any rights to Life is Strange, or Life is Strange: Before the Storm. The only thing I can claim to own is an imagination and a deep love for Chloe and Rachel. Enjoy. **_

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I am so fucking pissed! Nathan fuckin' Prescott thinks that he owns everyone in this god forsaken town. He's wrong, he does not own me, and I'm going to show that to him today.

I pull up across the handicapped bays in the Blackwell parking lot. Fuck it - what's my step-douche going to do, ticket me? _I'd like to see him try_. I take a deep breath. _You can do this, you can get some cash, get this piece of shit fixed up and get your ass out this hick-town_ ... even if Rachel isn't here to do it with me. I look at myself in the rearview mirror. _Stupid ass punk with no friends, your only friend went off and left you. Just like Eliot predicted, you were played_. Even more reason to get the hell out.

I lean forward and poke the bobble on my dash. "Wish me luck." I mutter, rolling my eyes as he dances back at me.

I clamber out of my truck and slam the door behind me. _Stupid fuckin' rust bucket_. I'd have been well out of this hellhole if it wasn't for this piece of crap.

I head up the steps towards Black-au, the concentration camp from hell. So glad I got expelled when I did. _Thanks Rachel_.

_Right, slip in and slip out. Got it._

I look around for any familiar faces - mostly on the lookout for my step-dick David or Principle Wells. No matter how many years pass the campus still looks the same. Full of doe eyed kids chasing dreams that will never be fulfilled here in Arcadia. Except Rachel, I hope she's living her dreams.

I can hear conversations around me, a buzz in the air. "Did you hear about the body they found?" A couple of girls gossip as they walk towards the main building. "They say she was so messed up." A group of lads I recognise as Otters converse. "No, they don't know who it is, but my bets on that chick from the missing posters." A science nerd states to his friend walking past me.

_Rachel? No it can't be. _I dismiss.

I am about to enter the main building when my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket and look at the screen. My heart sinks. _Mrs Amber._

"Err, hey." I say, unsure how to speak to my best friends mom after so long.

"Chloe." I hear Rose reply. "It's - It's great to hear your voice."

"Likewise, Mrs Amber."

"Chloe - I'm not sure what you have heard." Mrs Amber says. "But they think they have found Rachel."

I can feel my heart break. _No. Please no_. I can feel my eyes begin to well up with tears.

"Chloe?" I hear Mrs Amber question quietly. The whole world around me out of focus. "Chloe?" She repeats.

I clear my narrowing throat, afraid that I will breakdown at any moment. "Yeah?"

"They can't -." I hear Mrs Amber's voice crack. "They can't formally identify her." She sobs.

"What?" I reply in complete shock, my body shaking. _It can't be, please no. _

"We - We got a call from the police this morning. They found a young woman along the highway. She's-" She stops. "She's in a bad way and they can't formally identify her."

I gulp. "She's… She's?" I utter in almost a whisper, trying to hold back the tears.

"She's alive." Rose reassures.

A swell of relief washes over me. _She's alive._

"Chloe - Mr Amber and I are in London and can't make it back to Arcadia Bay for another couple of days. If it is Rachel we want her to see a friendly face, someone she trusts. I know that you and Rachel didn't see eye to eye in the end and that you started drifting away, but after everything you two have been through together I thought it would be best if you could be with her. With everything that happened between James and Sera, you told her the truth, you didn't have you, but you did and it's something that I am really grateful for, so thank you. And Chloe?"

"Yes, Mrs Amber?"

"Could you let us know if it is Rachel? We don't want to get our hopes up after everything that has happened in these last 6 months."

"Mrs Amber - I will not let her down."

"I know, Chloe. You never have." Mrs Amber replies. "She's at Arcadia Hospital. They are keeping her in a secure room, away from prying eyes and reporters. She has a constant police watch so you'll need to announce yourself at the front desk."

"Mrs Amber - what - what happened to her?" I ask, my heart breaking every second I'm not by her side.

"We don't know, but whatever it was -" Mrs Amber hesitates. "It was bad."

My stomach drops. _What does she mean? What does she mean by bad?_

"Chloe?" Mrs Amber questions.

My mind still reeling over everything. "Yes, Mrs Amber?"

"The police told us to prepare for the worst -" Her voice cracks again and I can hear sobs through the phone. "If it is Rachel, please - please give her a hug from us." She cries and finally puts down the phone.

I can feel the emotion catching in my throat like a venus fly trap. "I will. I promise." I whisper to no one in particular. I take a look at my phone background, a photo of Rachel that I took a year ago. "I'm coming for you." I whisper, guiding my thumb across her face.

That was the exact moment my world flipped upside down. I had hoped for the last 6 months that Rachel was sunning it up somewhere on the west coat, a different beach everyday. Even if it was without me, it was better than what was happening right now. I turn away from Blackwell and run back towards my truck in the parking lot. As I jump down the steps towards the parking lot I see my step-dick David looking at my truck parked across the disabled bay disapprovingly.

"Move it-" He warns as I approach the truck. "We actually have people who need to use these bays, not just some lazy dropout."

"Fuck off!" I shout back as I rush past him.

As I get into the drivers side I flip him the birdy and his face color changes immediately to red. I pull away at full speed heading towards the hospital. _Fucking tool. _

I get to the hospital in record time. As I pull up in the parking lot I get a bitter taste in my mouth. Frank. _What the fuck is he doing here?_ I see his meth lab on wheels pulled up in the corner of the parking lot. I get out my truck and slam the door, because that's all I need right now. As I approach the entrance I see Frank waiting impatiently, pacing the waiting room.

He notices me and walks over. "So it's true then? They found her?"

"What the fuck do you care?" I scoff.

"I care more than you will ever know."

"Blow me." I spit.

"Good luck getting in, they are not letting anyone past."

"Yes, maybe not fucking drug dealers." I scald as I walk over to the reception.

As I get to the desk a nurse looks over her glasses at me. I clear my throat. "Erm - I'm here to help potentially identify Rachel Amber ."

"We are under express orders not to let anyone in." The nurse glares back at me.

I turn my head to look at Frank who is smirking at me. Ignoring the bastard I revert my attention back to the nurse behind the desk. "I have been asked to formally identify Rachel by Rose Amber, Rachel's mother. My names Chloe Price."

The nurse looks up at me again, her mannerism changes. "Do you have any ID on you?"

I pull out my real drivers permit and hand it over to her. She examines it briefly before handing it back to me.

"Follow me." She asserts, getting up from behind the reception and walking quickly around the desk.

As I follow the nurse I turn back to Frank and blow him a pretend kiss, flipping him off as I do so causing his face to turn beetroot.

I follow the nurse through corridors and up some stairs to an empty corridor in a part of the hospital I have never been before.

Standing outside of a room at the end of the corridor I see two armed guards standing either side of the door. I remember what Mrs Amber told me about the security watching Rachel's room. Ex-DA's daughter goes through a traumatic ordeal - it will be the talk of the town.

The nurse approaches the guards and nods at them as a hello. "Miss Price here has been given access to the patient by the patient's presumed parents." The nurse states addressing the guards. "Miss Price, if you could please take a seat out here I will just grab the doctor for you."

I take a seat outside the hospital room, opposite the goons. My heart is racing. Behind those doors could be my best friend who I've not seen or heard from her in 6 months. This is insane.

"Who called the fucking goon squad?" I joke.

The two guards shoot me a cautionary stare. I raise my hands in surrender, letting them know it was just a little bit a lightheartedness.

I rest my elbows on my knees and put my head in my hands. My emotions overwhelming me. From what Mrs Amber told be about Rachel's condition it wasn't good and I had to prepare myself for that. I had done it before, I had been strong for Rachel when her whole world fell apart. It could also not be Rachel, which would kill me.

From down the corridor a lanky disheveled doctor with brown and grey hair struts towards me looking like fucking House with horn rimmed glasses.

"I gather you are here for Jane Doe." The doctor states.

"Jane Doe?" I question.

"We have not formally identified Miss Amber yet." The doctor states. "You need to know that the woman in this room is in a critical but stable condition. She is sedated as when she was admitted she was in a hysterical state."

"If it is Rachel, then she's my best friend and I love her. Whatever she has gone through, I am here for her."

"That's good to hear, because from what she has been through, nobody has been there for her for a long time. Are you ready?"

I nod my head and get to my feet. I follow the doctor as he walks towards the officers and opens the door. He walks in and I am in tow.

There, in the bed in front of me is a complete stranger. She is young but her face looks old and withered. Her eyes are black and sunken whilst her skin clings to her skull like a mask. Her body is so thin that her bones protrude through her skin. Her ribs and hips cause peaks through her hospital gown. She is so small that she looks like a prop for some movie.

_It can't be. No, it's not Rachel._ "I-I-" I stammer, trying to make the word appear.

The doctor walks over to her bedside and flips over her arm. Immediately I can see the five point black star on her wrist that I once penned - which she later got tattooed. _No, it can't be. It's not her. _

"Rachel?" I cry out, approaching her sallow form.

"So this is definitely Miss Amber?" The doctor questions.

"From the tattoo on her wrist I want to say yes, but from what she has been through, I want to say no."

"I understand, she has another tattoo of a dragon on her right thigh and a scar on her right bicep."

My stomach drops. She _is _Rachel. The skeleton with skin laying in front of me _is _Rachel.

I walk cautiously over to her bedside, afraid that any touch will break her. I look over to the doctor who is still stood watching us. "What happened to her?"

"From the condition of her wrists and ankles she has been bound for long periods of time using some sort of binding like tape. She has been held somewhere with artificial light as she is suffering from vitamin D deficiency, and as you can see is currently extremely malnourished. It's a miracle to be honest that she is still alive."

I can feel the emotions in me bubbling over. _Who could do this to another human being? Who the fuck would do this? _ I can feel tears stinging my eyes.

"If you talk to her, she should be able to hear you. I can't say how lucid she will be but knowing you're here might help her." The doctor states. "I'll leave you two alone."

I can feel a tear wandering down my cheek. I pull a chair right next to her bed and sit down. I carefully grab hold of her hand, the bones in the back of her hand threaten to break her sallow skin.

"Hey -" I cough, my throat closing in on itself. "Hey, Rachel. It's me." I whisper, tears spilling down my cheeks. "I'm so sorry." I sob. "I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

I feel Rachel stir slightly and then her eyes shoot open in terrified panic. "NO, NO, NO, NO,NO!" She screams pulling away from me.

I jolt back in my seat momentarily, before leaning forward trying to console her. "You're safe." I utter, nothing more than a whisper passing my lips. "Your safe here, Rachel." I repeat, this time louder.

"Who are you?" Rachel questions.

"I'm me, Rachel. It's Chloe."

"Chloe?" I hear her whimper as she calms down.

"Yes, Rachel, I'm here." I reassure. "Forever." I whisper under my breath, wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Chloe Price from Blackwell?" She asks.

"Yeah, Rachel. I'm here."

"Where's my dad-" She stops. "Where's my mom? Why are you here?"

"You're mom and dad are out of the country, I was asked to watch over you by your mom, by Rose."

"How - How do you know my mom?" She questions looking at me confused.

"I've known your mom for over three years, Rachel." I state.

"But - but we're not friends." She asserts. "You are just someone who goes to the same school as me."

I am stunned.

"Rachel, we've been friends for 3 years, ever since the firewalk concert. I got kicked out of Blackell, remember?"

She looks at me all doe eyed and shakes her head.

I take my phone out of my pocket and show her my background . "It was when we went to the fairground last year, and I won you that stupid teddy, remember?."

She cowers away from my screen. "No, no, no no. No more. Please. No more."

"Rachel, I promise, no one will ever hurt you again." I assert as I reach for her hand.

She pulls away from me and her eyes are filled with terror. "No - No - No. Don't touch me."

_Who was this petrified shell of a person sat in front of me that used to be my best friend?_

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**Note from Author: **Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. If you are looking forward to reading more, please leave me a review, favorite or alert so I know that at least one person is reading. Ciao, JaneDoe


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